
Central Market
Heritage Art Deco market hall transformed into a showcase of Malaysian crafts and culture.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Central Market in Kuala Lumpur opens in 1983, when developers had plans to clear this Art Deco building for hotels and offices and a heritage group's counter-proposal to save it as a national art gallery was turned down. It traces the building's roots to a wet market operating here since 1888 and the market hall raised in 1937 under the Kuala Lumpur Sanitary Board, and follows the unlikely turn that let the structure stand. Look around at the batik, woodcarvings and silver jewellery filling the stalls today.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
GMBB
Former fashion mall reimagined as a nine-floor hub for Malaysian artists, artisans, and performers.
Kasturi Walk
Covered pedestrian bazaar with a traditional kite arch, selling street food, souvenirs, and crafts.
REXKL
Cinema building from 1947, reborn as a creative hub for arts, performances, and community.
Petaling Street Market
Lantern-lit covered bazaar in the city's oldest Chinese quarter, with vendors and street food.
Muzium Telekom
Colonial telephone exchange turned museum, tracing Malaysian communications from the telegraph era.
The National Museum of Malaysia
Palace-inspired museum of Malaysian history, its facade tiled in Venetian glass mosaics.